Fantifa
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Fantifa (sometimes rendered as f_antifa
History
1980s and 1990s
Fantifa has its roots in the
The term "fantifa" was coined in 1988,[5] with small meetings of no more than fifteen people occurring in 1989, which covered topics including violence against women.[3] Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first nationwide German fantifa meeting was held on the weekend of January 20-21, 1990,[5] covering the topics of lesbophobia, eugenics, anti-abortion movements, and § 218. It was the first antifa meeting to feature daycare, to allow women with children to participate.[3] By the end of the 1990s, there were twenty-five fantifa groups.[6]
Fantifa initially met with conflict from antifa men who viewed women's rights groups as fascist, perceiving feminism's antagonism toward patriarchy as misandry equivalent to antisemitic hatred.[5] Further confusion was caused by the historical example of fascist woman Sophie Rogge-Börner writing to Adolf Hitler in 1933 to preach for uplifting women who wished to take on more traditionally masculine gender roles within the Nazi movement,[7] but she distanced herself from feminism and fantifa activists did not consider her one either, merely a fascist seeking an androgyny within patriarchy.[5] In the mid-1990s, a Hamburg men's antifa group accepted fantifa and promoted feminist talking points within the context of antifa academic discourse,[3]: 23 as did a 1998 Berlin leftist newspaper.[8] However, very few men showed up in solidarity at 1990s fantifa protests.[3]
Internal discord over how to handle the
Another nationwide Germany fantifa meeting was held in Berlin in 1999,[3]: 111 but the movement lost momentum after that.[2] In 2000, a fantifa member accused an antifa man of raping her in 1998.[9] The resulting fallout caused a divide in men's antifa groups, either choosing to embrace feminism as a worthy cause or deny it as relevant to anti-fascism.[10] Fantifa dwindled after that for a variety of reasons,[3]: 35 but it saw a resurgence in the 2010s.
21st century
The general German antifa movement fractured in 2001, splintering off into competing anti-nationalist groups. Following the September 11 attacks, far-left movements increasingly turned their aggression toward other leftist movements instead of viewing the threat of neo-Nazism as important enough to actively target. Antifa groups lost their perceived relevancy, and fantifa likewise diminished into obscurity.[3]: 111
Simultaneously, the fantifa of the 1990s couldn't continue in its same form very far into the 2000s due to the changing nature of feminism. The influence of Judith Butler disrupted the radical feminist politics of German feminism.[3]: 112–3 When fantifa was revived, feminism was transitioning from its third wave to its fourth and fantifa incorporated queer feminist ideology as part of this shift.[11]
In 2016, fantifa participated in a
As the German far-right saw increased popularity with the founding of Alternative for Germany, there was a corresponding increase in anti-feminist sentiment. Fantifa became more relevant, encouraging fantifa protest activity in response to high-profile homophobic and transphobic violence that feminists associate with misogyny.[16]
Theory and ideology
Treatment of fascism
Fantifa addresses
A 1989 fantifa brochure describes fascism as an institution based on patriarchal aggression. It suggests that fascism could not exist without society already embracing patriarchy and encourages antifa members to embrace the feminist movement to target a root cause of fascism.[17] Members of Bonn-based fantifa group Fantifa Bonn identified anti-abortion activist Dr. Ferdinand Oeter as a former Nazi seemingly attempting to bolster the reproduction of white German citizens as an exercise in eugenics and to seed the culture with values that would support a return to fascism, having previously made a 1937 statement indicating the importance of keeping women in traditional gender roles as mothers and homemakers to rescue a perceived dying essential whiteness and bolster cultural Nazism.[3]: 32 Oeter was a member of the Deutsche Liga für das Kind (German League for Children), an antifeminist group part of a movement fighting for a state subsidy for women to become stay-at-home mothers.[18] The campaign was explicitly derived from Nazi policies, brought into the modern day by former Nazi eugenicist Friedrich Burgdörfer, and Oeter contributed the narrative that West Germany taking this route would lead to economic growth.[19] This effort escaped notice of men's antifa movements as what they would consider an issue of concern before fantifa called attention to it.[3]: 31
Relation to other ideologies
Though rooted in
The fantifa movement has internal tensions. Early fantifa was marked by strains of lesbian separatism critical of involvement with men's antifa groups but this eventually gave way to cooperation between genders, if not always allowing cisgender men into individual fantifa groups.[3] As is shared by the greater antifa movement in Germany, there is controversy over handling of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with some fantifa groups such as the Antifaschistischer Frauenblock Leipzig viewing support of Israel as anti-fascist while others view Israel as a fascist state whose opposition is a part of the anti-fascist cause.[21]
Relation to men's antifa groups
Fantifa brings a critical look at gender relations within antifa movements. Though antifa men may intellectually oppose sexism, they may also display unconscious sexist behavior. Women can often feel marginalized and not taken seriously in male-centric antifa groups and seek relief in women's groups.[2] Women may also be unable to receive proper education on antifa culture and practices that antifa men learn as youths in antifa groups for young people and are not forthright with knowledge themselves.[22] Another focus of fantifa's criticism is how male antifa can harbor sexual predators as an aspect of rape culture, as was shown in a 2000 rape scandal.[10]
A provocative early 1990s demonstration asserted that antifa men who refuse to be critical of patriarchy actually support fascism by implicitly embracing male dominance and antifa women would be unable to trust them. One meaningful change fantifa brought to antifa was pushing for the widespread availability of daycare at antifa meetings, without which women with children were often unable to participate.[3]: 22
In contrast to men's antifa movements favoring violent direct action techniques of punching neo-Nazis in direct confrontations, fantifa activists often believe this is contemptible toxic masculinity, inefficient for fixing the larger societal problem of Nazism as a phenomenon, and should not be undertaken in cases where violence can be avoided. To prepare for cases where violence is unavoidable, fantifa promotes women learning self-defense skills such as Wen-Do but emphasizes not delivering the first blow. Activists trained in Wen-Do or similar martial arts provide a line of defense to protect untrained demonstrators from neo-Nazi aggression and take part in urban patrols to protect women on the streets who may otherwise suffer sexual assault or other violence at the hands of men. Fantifa is critical of antifa men employing first strike violence on neo-Nazi women, often viewing it as a form of violence against women when not undertaken solely as self-defense.[3]: 26 However, fantifa will engage in property destruction under the perception that it does not count as violent action if no one is harmed.
References
- ^ "10.02. Alles F_Antifa? Zur feministischen Perspektive von Antifa". Antifa Café Dortmund. 2022-02-10. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ^ a b c d "Ein Plädoyer für die F*antifa". Antifaschistisches Info Blatt. 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-942885-30-0.
- ^ Paterson, Tony (2007-04-17). "Germany's 'Red Zora' terrorist spared jail". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2007-05-15.
- ^ a b c d Struchtemeier, Thea A. (1990-01-28). "Feminismus und Faschismus - verenbar oder nicht?". Schwarzer Faden. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
- ISBN 9781612197043.
- ^ Bogumil (2020-02-14). "A National Socialist Feminist Writes to Hitler". ARPLAN. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
- ^ "Faschismus" (PDF). K-Butt. No. 17. 1998. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ "Achtung Vergewaltiger". Nadir.org. 2000-03-01. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ a b "Tag X-Demo Leipzig Aufruf Teil II". Antifa Frankfurt. 2022-12-17. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ^ "Antifa heißt (auch) Feminismus!". Antifaschistisches Info Blatt. 2012-04-01. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ^ Fittkau, Ludger (2016-01-21). "Streit um Pickup Artists". Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
- ^ "Schrei, Wenn Du Des Teufels Bist!". Internet Archive. 2017-10-07. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
- ^ Wayland, Alis (2018-10-20). "marcha 20/10, florianópolis, #elenão". flickr. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ^ "Wildcat Zirkular 1994-2002, mit Lücken". Internet Archive. 2022-07-14. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ "„Die widerliche Vereinigung!" - Vorabenddemo". Indymedia. 2023-10-28. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
- ^ "Fantifa – Gegen den Neonaziaufmarsch am 18. März in Leipzig". Indymedia. 2017-03-11. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ISBN 978-9150613476.
- ISBN 978-0520079038. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ^ "[Berlin] trans*geniale f_antifa goes Mad Pride". Indymedia. 2013-07-14. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
- ^ Uni, Assaf (2006-12-27). "The Good Men of Leipzig". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
- ^ "Handlungsfähigkeit und Frauen*quote". Antifaschistiches Info Blatt. 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2023-01-15.